26 January 2010
James O'Keefe Even Kind of Looks Like Donald Segretti
He does. Same wormy little weasly face that dirty tricks guys usually have. I imagine if they had a favorite Archie character as kids, it'd have been Reggie.
So today James O'Keefe and cohorts were arrested for, apparently, trying to tap the phones of Senator Mary Landrieu's office, but in any case trying to gain access, under false pretenses, to the phone system. They know this partly because O'Keefe helpfully filmed a lot of evidence with his cell phone. Clever fellow.
O'Keefe is, as I'm sure you've been reminded to death, the fellow who punk'd ACORN(note: I'm not going to get into whether he uncovered anything genuine or if the staff were just fucking with him; I'm fairly indifferent on the subject of ACORN itself) last September. He was quite celebrated by the Republicans for having done so, 31 members of Congress even trying to enter a resolution commending him. From that link(at which you can also read said resolution), a list. These folks:
Todd Akin [R-MO2]
Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD6]
Joe Barton [R-TX6]
Rob Bishop [R-UT1]
Jo Bonner [R-AL1]
John Boozman [R-AR3]
Paul Broun [R-GA10]
Henry Brown [R-SC1]
John Campbell [R-CA48]
John Carter [R-TX31]
Howard Coble [R-NC6]
Tom Cole [R-OK4]
Michael Conaway [R-TX11]
John Culberson [R-TX7]
Mary Fallin [R-OK5]
Trent Franks [R-AZ2]
Louis Gohmert [R-TX1]
Kay Granger [R-TX12]
Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
Jim Jordan [R-OH4]
Steve King [R-IA5]
John Kline [R-MN2]
Doug Lamborn [R-CO5]
Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-MO9]
Daniel Lungren [R-CA3]
Kenny Marchant [R-TX24]
Joseph Pitts [R-PA16]
Bill Posey [R-FL15]
Phil Roe [R-TN1]
Jean Schmidt [R-OH2]
John Shadegg [R-AZ3]
Whom I'm sure stand by their decision to spend public time on such things. I have to say that, while for what I expect of them, I'm incredibly disappointed with the Democrats, I am not at all ever disappointed in my expectations of Republicans. You may not like that mildew will always spread, but you do know it will happen.
Now, of course this sounds nothing like what we now think of as the beginning of Watergate. No way, in an election year, could anyone have reason to be charmed by O'Keefe's apparent gifts at this sort of thing, and decide to pay him to do something more ambitious. Certainly no one would think there was anything to be gained by surreptitious access to an important Democratic senator's phone banks. And there just is no way anyone in the Right thought that using reality show techniques to win elections would be an idea worth trying. Because the Republicans are honorable men, who have no history of, or experience with, this sort of thing.
I guess we'll have to see what O'Keefe is willing to do when he realizes he's still young, will face at least ten years of federal jail time, and if he got out--or got a lesser sentence--he'd still be able to capitalize on all the attention he's getting right now. I mean, in a decade, who'd care to give him his own show or pay him to write a book? He'll never be this famous again and, from the looks of him, jail would be uncomfortable. He's got his life ahead of him. I imagine he's thinking about that right now. He seems smart. He certainly knows his cohorts are thinking the same things about themselves, and him. One of his cohorts being the son of a federal prosecutor, a right-wing activist, U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan. I imagine we may be hearing that name quite a bit in not too long.
But we'll see, won't we? Update: the plot thickens. The U.S. Attorney in question is only the acting one, and only still in his seat because our old friend, and friend to prostitutes everywhere, David Vitter, is blocking his replacement. This makes one wonder why it's so important to Vitter that this man--now the father of someone performing political espionage on another Louisiana politician--remain in his office. You don't think that they thought they could have blocked any investigation? I don't either. That would be insane. Far too obvious. Surely Republicans would be smarter than that, especially given the Democrats are self-destructing on their own. Watergate was a similarly unnecessary mistake. They'd have learned.
He does. Same wormy little weasly face that dirty tricks guys usually have. I imagine if they had a favorite Archie character as kids, it'd have been Reggie.
So today James O'Keefe and cohorts were arrested for, apparently, trying to tap the phones of Senator Mary Landrieu's office, but in any case trying to gain access, under false pretenses, to the phone system. They know this partly because O'Keefe helpfully filmed a lot of evidence with his cell phone. Clever fellow.
O'Keefe is, as I'm sure you've been reminded to death, the fellow who punk'd ACORN(note: I'm not going to get into whether he uncovered anything genuine or if the staff were just fucking with him; I'm fairly indifferent on the subject of ACORN itself) last September. He was quite celebrated by the Republicans for having done so, 31 members of Congress even trying to enter a resolution commending him. From that link(at which you can also read said resolution), a list. These folks:
Todd Akin [R-MO2]
Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD6]
Joe Barton [R-TX6]
Rob Bishop [R-UT1]
Jo Bonner [R-AL1]
John Boozman [R-AR3]
Paul Broun [R-GA10]
Henry Brown [R-SC1]
John Campbell [R-CA48]
John Carter [R-TX31]
Howard Coble [R-NC6]
Tom Cole [R-OK4]
Michael Conaway [R-TX11]
John Culberson [R-TX7]
Mary Fallin [R-OK5]
Trent Franks [R-AZ2]
Louis Gohmert [R-TX1]
Kay Granger [R-TX12]
Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
Jim Jordan [R-OH4]
Steve King [R-IA5]
John Kline [R-MN2]
Doug Lamborn [R-CO5]
Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-MO9]
Daniel Lungren [R-CA3]
Kenny Marchant [R-TX24]
Joseph Pitts [R-PA16]
Bill Posey [R-FL15]
Phil Roe [R-TN1]
Jean Schmidt [R-OH2]
John Shadegg [R-AZ3]
Whom I'm sure stand by their decision to spend public time on such things. I have to say that, while for what I expect of them, I'm incredibly disappointed with the Democrats, I am not at all ever disappointed in my expectations of Republicans. You may not like that mildew will always spread, but you do know it will happen.
Now, of course this sounds nothing like what we now think of as the beginning of Watergate. No way, in an election year, could anyone have reason to be charmed by O'Keefe's apparent gifts at this sort of thing, and decide to pay him to do something more ambitious. Certainly no one would think there was anything to be gained by surreptitious access to an important Democratic senator's phone banks. And there just is no way anyone in the Right thought that using reality show techniques to win elections would be an idea worth trying. Because the Republicans are honorable men, who have no history of, or experience with, this sort of thing.
I guess we'll have to see what O'Keefe is willing to do when he realizes he's still young, will face at least ten years of federal jail time, and if he got out--or got a lesser sentence--he'd still be able to capitalize on all the attention he's getting right now. I mean, in a decade, who'd care to give him his own show or pay him to write a book? He'll never be this famous again and, from the looks of him, jail would be uncomfortable. He's got his life ahead of him. I imagine he's thinking about that right now. He seems smart. He certainly knows his cohorts are thinking the same things about themselves, and him. One of his cohorts being the son of a federal prosecutor, a right-wing activist, U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan. I imagine we may be hearing that name quite a bit in not too long.
But we'll see, won't we? Update: the plot thickens. The U.S. Attorney in question is only the acting one, and only still in his seat because our old friend, and friend to prostitutes everywhere, David Vitter, is blocking his replacement. This makes one wonder why it's so important to Vitter that this man--now the father of someone performing political espionage on another Louisiana politician--remain in his office. You don't think that they thought they could have blocked any investigation? I don't either. That would be insane. Far too obvious. Surely Republicans would be smarter than that, especially given the Democrats are self-destructing on their own. Watergate was a similarly unnecessary mistake. They'd have learned.
Labels: crime, david vitter, dirty tricks, HA ha, james o'keefe, right wing
¶ Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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